The present invention relates to an input/output (I/O) connector for a portable communication device, and more particularly to an I/O connector for personal digital assistant (PDA).
Portable communications devices, such as cellular telephones, pagers, PDAs, etc., have become ubiquitous in recent years. Being portable, such devices frequently need to be charged, or connected to another device, such as a personal computer (PC) to upload or download information. The portable communications device is connected to an external device via an I/O connector. U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,141 discloses an I/O connector including a top cover, a bottom cover coupled to the top cover, a terminal module which has a plurality of terminals received in position between the top cover and the bottom cover, and a pair of latch arms formed integral with the bottom cover. However, a conventional I/O connector for PDA further includes a printed circuit board (PCB) and a pushbutton switch soldered on the PCB for intermitting or starting data transfer. The PCB is vertical to the top cover and the bottom cover. The terminals received in the terminal module are soldered to the PCB by surface mount technology (SMT).
However, in this design, it is difficult to handle the terminals to be connected to the PCB. Also, since the PCB is vertical to the top cover and the bottom cover, and with a view that I/O connector should be of low profile as possible, the area of the PCB is too small to permit or expand other functions.
Hence, an improved I/O connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
A main object of the present invention is to provide an 1/O connector with terminals are easily handled to PCB thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an I/O connector with a PCB having broader area for extending extra functions.
To fulfill the above-mentioned objects, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an I/O connector includes a bottom cover, a top cover coupling to the bottom cover, a terminal module having a plurality of terminals between the bottom cover and the top cover, and a PCB horizontally soldered to solder portions of the terminals. A pushbutton switch is soldered on the PCB. A latch piece assembles in the terminal module with a pair of hooks thereof extending out of a front end of the I/O connector and a pair of upstanding ear portion extending over the terminal module. The top cover has a press button located in the middle and a latch release button at a front end thereof. A pair of stand poles are formed under the latch release button. A metal plate is secured to and under the top cover. The stand poles traverse the metal plate to engage with the ear portions. The press button traverses the metal plate to engage with a pushbutton switch. The I/O connector further includes a strain relief at a rear end thereof for securing a cable. The I/O connector is released from a mating connector by pressing the latch release button.
In this design, the PCB is positioned in horizontal, it is easy to handle the terminals to be connected to the PCB by SMT. Further more, the area of the PCB is larger than prior designs to permit or expand extra functions, for example, light-emitting diode (LED) display.
Other objects, advantages and novel feather of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.